Camping

It was a new experience for our family this weekend. We took the 3 little ones camping!!! It was not Daddy and I's first time camping but the first for our family of 5. It was a co-camping trip with our homeschool group. FUN TIMES!

We started out the adventure Friday mid morning. The van was loaded to the gills, Griswold style with stuff on top. We had firewood, tents and plenty of food for 2 days. The kids had a few toys to entertain them on the drive and we were off. Oh my how that van was loaded. The drive was fairly uneventful. We stopped for gas and ice only once, only one poop break for S, J rode wonderfully the entire 2 1/2 hours and L was thrilled to be by her lonesome in the back seat, surrounded by pillows and sleeping bags. We made good time, checked into the campsite and started setting up. We were the first to arrive, shock I know! Everything was set up pretty quickly. The kids got bored setting up though so I left the rest of the camp set up to Daddy and took them for a walk around the area. It is a beautiful part of AZ. The kids were extremely excited to be camping out in a tent, outside under the stars. Being out with them brought back many of my own childhood memories. I hope the memories we made this weekend bring them smiles too. We grilled brats for dinner on a grill we got for a wedding gift and just used for the first time 8 1/2 years later. Smores followed dinner. Another family, the G family, got up there about 8 that night. We visited with them for a spell while the Daddy in their family set up their site. Our kids were totally ecstatic to see T & T. On our way back from their site, L and I were racing and my pants fell down. She thought that was funny. Then a bit later on the way back from their site, L and I were skipping together and she ate the pavement hard. She skinned up her knees pretty bad. Falling was a theme to the weekend. Seems my kids don't watch they are walking closely enough and they took their share of spills all weekend. It gets dark early camping for some reason so we hit the sack early. J slept just like I thought he would - terribly. I nursed him all night long. I don't think he has nursed that much since he was a newborn.

Daddy Piper woke up early on Saturday, before the rest of us and had a fire started when we got up. L woke up next and was hurting for a restroom so off we went to do our morning stuff. The toilet stunk something awful. We would breath through our noses only. YUCKO! S was so cute coming out of the tent, looking for L. It is always a bittersweet moment when he asks for her first in the morning. L is so important in his life. After everyone getting up and getting started, I realized I forgot our toothbrushes. Daddy remembered his but I forgot ours (we bought some at the little camp store later). I also forgot mustard and mayonnaise for lunch too. UGH - too much stuff to remember! We cooked up a yummy breakfast of bacon and eggs. I say we not in the literal sense - I didn't cook a thing, Daddy cooked breakfast. After some burnt bacon and super fried eggs (cooking on the wok thing on our grill took some practice), it was time to head down to the lake to fish. Memories that stick out from the fishing time: S had to potty a million times while at the lake; we caught nothing, even after switching over to the power bait like the guy next to us was using and catching fish like crazy with; L trying on T & T's rain boots and traipsing around the water happily; all 4 kids singing "Swimming in the Ocean" over and over and over; laughing and talking with the Mom and Dad of the G family; all 4 kids touching a fish; L dropping the fish when the nice guy handed it to her to hold; Bees trying to attack our sweet tea; J enjoying the grass on his toes, while chilaxing with his mama; getting a sunburn and toasting J's nose - oops!! After the fishing went so great (NOT!), we went back to the campsite for lunch. The other 4 families showed up about this time. We had 3 families at our site for lunch and then there were 3 families at the other site. I only wish we had gotten a group site for the trip so we could have spent more time together. Lunch was terrific. Having all of us hang out together with the dads included went better than I anticipated. After lunch, people kind of dispersed a bit. Some went to the lake and we stayed at our site. I thought it was a bit boring for a spell (the kids felt the same way - you could tell by their wildly rambunctious behavior) and Daddy Piper and I exchanged some not so nice words. I knew he wanted to hang out and relax but honestly, with a 5 year old, a 3 year old and an almost 1 year old, time for sitting and relaxing just isn't in the cards. I had to take J for a drive to get him to sleep and Daddy took the older 2 for a walk to get firewood. I got back and things were better. Poor J didn't sleep for long though and woke up instantly when I shut the van off. We walked down to the other site and hung out there for a bit. One of the moms had gotten the kids cool nature bags with a magnifying glass, a nature journal, bug catching jar and colored pencils. The kids took some time to do a nature walk and record some of the things they witnessed. Dinnertime came pretty quickly. Daddy drove J around again to get him asleep and it didn't work too well the second time either. For ease with J, we had dinner at our site. Dinner was a delight. I so enjoyed having so much laughter and fun and camaraderie around us. I know the kids loved every second of it. I imagine that is what it's like to grow up in a large family. Someone to always hold the baby and so much laughter. The laughter - how I wish I had a video camera for the sound of all the laughter. I did grow up with a large extended family but it never felt like this. The dinner was pure, wholesome fun. No snide comments or competition - just fun. Some of the other boys caught some crawdads and these were boiled up for dinner. I tried a bite - tasted like cheap lobster. One of the boys said crawdad is Spanish for lobster : -) After dinner and smores (the little ones were warned not to cross the line around the fire or they wouldn't get smores!!), the mess was cleaned up and everyone separated back to their own campsites. This is another reason I think the big group site would have been fun. L wanted to go to bed after playing flashlight tag with G.L. I laid down with her and J and off to dreamland I went. It didn't last long though. J didn't sleep very good the second night either. S fell asleep watching G.L. play video games. I was already asleep when this transpired. Daddy brought him in the tent and he and L both slept fantastically the entire weekend.

Sunday morning came early with the sounds of a blackbird overhead. He was noisy with a capital N. Daddy woke up crabby from the lack of sleep. L needed to potty and I had a sinus headache. We should have stuck with our original plan of only one night - oh well. Breakfast was at the other site. It went better than the wakeup went. The kids played. L played puppies with T.G. S seemed to be a bit overwhelmed with the amount of people (he did great all day Saturday though - woohoo!). He played alone quite a bit. Daddy noticed this and handed Baby J back to me and went off for some special time with S. They spent about an hour doing some rock jumping and then hanging out with T.G. and S.G. I was surprised how well Daddy Piper got along with everyone. S enjoyed the time alone with Daddy and the one on one attention he received. He just glowed when they came back to the campsite later. We then packed our stuff up and headed home. Packing up was a fiasco full of snippy attitude but eventually it got packed and we hit the road. The drive home was a yawn fest for Daddy Piper and I. We almost made it all the way home without having to stop for a potty break but it wasn't meant to be. L had to go about 10 minutes from home - oh well : -)

Prickly

S rubbed against my legs today only to make this horrible face and then do it again. After the third rub and scrunchy face did I think to ask what was wrong. He responded that he didn't like my prickly legs and I need to shave. L made a similar comment a few weeks ago while I was wearing a skirt and she was rubbing her hands on my calves. My response "Quit rubbing my legs!!". I did shave tonight though so if anyone comes in contact with my legs tomorrow there shouldn't be any injuries!

New Computer

L got her new computer today. She is soooo excited. I don't know who is more excited though - L or S. They have both been sitting there for the last 20 minutes playing Nick Jr together. Our router was broke or something so I had to go get a new one along with a microphone & a mousepad (pink of course!). I think we are getting S his own for Christmas - maybe a netbook like I have been wanting : -)

Mundane Monday

Thankfully things are pretty uneventful around here. We do things everyday but I just don't seem to have the time to post about them, which totally stinks!

Monday August 17: School lessons and hanging out. No details - can't truly remember this day for some reason.... SAD! I only remember getting the final paperwork together for L's online curriculum. And S's reading lessons. He is doing just phenomenal reading these days. I can't believe how quickly he has taken to these reading lessons. He can sound out a few words and most of the sounds with ease. I guess this day wasn't too mundane - just a normal day for us.
Tuesday August 18: We hung out with our friends, the K family, this morning. It was fun to do the craft box together and enjoy just hanging out. L took an art class at a local art/music studio. S was happy he didn't have to participate in this activity - one of the reasons it's nice to have Daddy Piper home these days. S was able to hang out with Daddy and enjoy some bonding time. L was sooooo into the art experience and comfortable in her surroundings. She ended up painting a totally cool picture too! Then at 5:00 that night was dance and she was like a different child. She was nervous and clingy, which is very unlike her. I know she was uncomfortable since the class is made up of 12 girls, 10 of which go to church together, live in the same neighborhood and attend the same school. It was hard for her to go in there not knowing any on of these girls, but within a short time, she was laughing and having a ball. I could see this through the mirror. She left class excited about going back. After dance, we had our homeschool MNO to discuss the latest drama. Some of the parents have decided to send their kids to public school but still want to remain in the homeschool group. It has been blown way out of proportion. I said some things that inadvertently hurt another mom's feelings and had to be brought out in the open and discussed. The whole meeting was tense to begin with but ended nicely. We have gone so long with no drama or crap in the group and this was bringing out some ugly things. We talked and talked and talked and everyone ended up feeling much better about things. It was mainly the insecurities of homeschooling that made this one mom question her decision, or that is how I perceived the situation. She felt personally attacked by me and I felt the same by her. It is amazing how just airing our feelings openly cleared up so many things. Our group is back on track. We have some fun activities coming up and the focus back on educating our children, the main goal of our group.
Wednesday August 19: PEECH day. We went to a local bear stuffing place that is American made - how wonderful!! It started out with a lesson on the history of the teddy bear, then a tour of their factory, then stuffing a bear (even Baby J got one!) and then lunch in their school room. I think all the kids had fun. It was extremely rewarding to be supporting an American company!
Today also marked the first day of L's curriculum. She had to do a 2 hour online orientation and was so bored by the time it was done. It helped my side of things when I explained this is how real school would be everyday. The curriculum looks easy but it should get more challenging soon. Her new computer should be here next week.
Thursday August 20: Today is my FIL's 70th birthday. We sent some cookies to him to help celebrate. Hopefully his birthday was wonderful with 70 more to come : -) Daddy also found a dove sitting in our flower box next to the house. It was a baby dove.This afternoon L's Daisy troop leader came over to go over the requirements for being a co-leader. She is uber-bossy. I was okay with that - to a point. But after hearing her go on and on for 2 hours about how wonderful she is, I was not feeling the groove in this partnership but still okay to go along with it for L's sake - so she would have a Daisy group. Then the freako emailed Thursday night about me needing to pick up her nanny on my to a required meeting I knew nothing about. Then she wanted to be reminded who my daughter was, like to be mean to her for me not picking her nanny. Anyway I found L another troop, maybe without a psycho leader. The only downside is my amount of involvement might diminish. I really hoped to be leader or co-leader for her troop as a way for her and I to do something together. After the "fun" Girl Scout time, I headed to Costco with a girlfriend - mooched off her membership. We didn't renew this year to save the $50. I only go a couple times a year so thankfully friends let us go with them : -) I was able to stock up on flour, sugar, salt and pepper. I also got S a cool Christmas gift. He will be so totally excited when he sees his Grave Digger Monster Truck!!!
Friday August 21: We spent some time today making some planets out of Rice Krispie Treats for our upcoming solar system lesson. J hung out and cruised around waiting for scraps : -) I surprised L with a cute matching apron. It's hard to see the cute matching aprons in this picture but I loved it. I love how smiley, happy we are in this picture together. I hate how old and wrinkly I look. I never pictured myself looking this way. Stress has wreaked havoc on me this past year... The next picture shows the cute aprons. It was fun to spend time with her in the kitchen. Our planet decorating was interrupted by Daddy wanting to swim so he took the older 2 out swimming. They swam for almost 3 hours.
Saturday August 22: Shopping with my sis and my baby girl (child in tow - see the pattern here?). Coupon shopping that is!! We hung out and shopped for 5 hours. It was wonderful to be helpful to her for once. Hopefully it took a bit of the stress off her for the time being. I also scored another Christmas gift for S. He is almost done now. I have to focus on the other 2. L is always so easy to buy for - she loves everything. J will be a bit tough since he has all these cool toys from the older 2.
Sunday August 23: Woke up early to do a CVS run alone. This was the plan and the plan didn't go accordingly. For some reason, the kids always want to go with me everywhere. Mostly, I try to be okay with this but CVS is hard to do with extra people in tow. When they don't have stuff in stock (which seems to be always), it's hard to figure out a new deal when you have 3 little ones clamoring to look at this, touch that, come see this or ooohhhh look over there. I was irritated and frustrated but managed to keep things in check. I have been so angry lately. I hate the rage that boils just under the surface constantly. Anyway - in the afternoon, it was a quick Target run to get Pullups for S. I agreed to let the kids bring their shopping carts and doll strollers. They love to do this. I calmly enjoyed the walk around the Target, taking our time to enjoy the afternoon shopping. I do try to remember that these are things their childhood memories will be made of - Mom letting them bring their carts shopping. I hope these are things they remember and not my angry outbursts. L learned how to pump her legs on the swing today!!!!! Major accomplishment for her.
Monday August 24: L woke up howling and screaming about 3 this morning. She was spooked by the air freshener in the bathroom. It is a sensor spray thing and when she went to use the restroom in the dark, it sprayed and completely freaked her out. She hollered for her Daddy, who went running for her. This screaming fest woke up J and I but amazingly not S. J was actually sleeping, something he has been doing more of lately. I got up and nursed him and put him back down. I spent from 4-5 AM on the computer looking at coupon deals. I had my list ready and was shopping by 6 AM. It was a very productive time. The store was stocked, no helpers with to distract me and home before everyone was awake for the day. Having Daddy home does have his advantages (financial aspects are not one of them - no work equals no money!!!!) I spent $59 and saved $134. I missed a couple of the coupons somehow (guess I do need the kids along to keep me focused). I took my coupons back in with my receipt and they gave me the cash back - extremely accommodating. We are so stocked on food and I am way under budget for the month. Today was another fun time with the K family. We had great time hanging out again. When we got home, I was able to get a nap. Another advantage of Daddy being home. This afternoon was spent making pizza for dinner (total cost for pepperoni pizza for the family... $1.11!!!!!!) and enjoying the company of our family. Everyone was in a great mood!! We are also getting things ready for our camping trip coming up with our homeschool group. Tonight I got to have a fun conversation with L while putting to bed. We discussed some of her wants for Christmas (Princess dressup gowns, Transformer Jammies, Transformers puzzles.....). She is such fun to chat with. She is happy to express her wants and desires so freely and openly. I love hearing her talk about just anything. She is wise beyond her years. The most exciting thing for her right now is her very own computer coming tomorrow!

J is 10 months old!

Where oh where did these 10 months go??? I say this every month (and then every year as my babies grow and get bigger) but seriously, where does the time go?!

Baby J is 10 months old. He is a blessing sent from above. He is a super happy baby that requires little sleep. He smiles and lunges for me the second he spots me from the across the room. He also does this with his daddy; J practically leaps from my arms when he decides his dad is the only person who'll do at the moment. He still only says "DADADADA", "BABABABA" and "NANANANANA". Mama isn't a word in his vocab for some reason. We are trying to teach him signs, like we did the other 2. He looks nothing like my other 2 babies. He is more reflective of my genes rather than his father's. Never have I seen a more beautiful set of brown eyes. He can pull up and cruise along furniture. He will stand alone for a few seconds. He has tried to take those first few steps but quickly falls to his bum. He has now started squinching his nose and snorting, very similar to a quirk S developed about this same age. The newest game is to squeeze his arms to his side and squeal. We started this at dinner the other night. I squealed then he repeated after me. We added the arm thing in and this causes laughter for hours from everyone.

He is the world's worst at shoving things in his mouth. My floors have never been cleaner. I am a stickler now for vacuuming the family room and playroom and forever cleaning up food from the kitchen/dining area. This boy finds the smallest morsel and will shove it in and grin with delight. Being a mom to J is like a dream come true, my 3rd dream come true. He has filled my heart with love and completed our family.

Misc Musings

I have so much muddling around in my mind. I just want to hit some of the hotspots. These days the time for a well thought out, long post - well that time just doesn't exist right now : -)

• We had our homeschool group over today. We were headed for the waterpark but the weather canceled those plans (along with Daddy Piper's first chance at work in 3 weeks!) What a bunch of fun gals and great kids this group has! We are experiencing our first bit of drama (a miracle really for being 10 months into our group). I hope we get the drama sorted out and finalized. I want nor need any of this drama in our group. We have developed such wonderful friendships and so have our children. It's truly been a gift to get to know these families. The bond we have secured through our desire to homeschool is the best. The bond the kids have formed is even better!!!
  
• Today at homeschool group, one of the little boys, A, found a lizard. Seeing this ordinary creature through his eyes was amazing and wonderful. I love seeing life through the eyes of our little ones.
• Baby J fell out the back door today. It was comical, after the fact. Daddy Piper didn't have work again today (UGH!) and was outside with the majority of the kids (helped S feel more comfortable) and J fell out the door, with me sitting RIGHT next to him. It happened so quickly. Daddy Piper made the comment later that 4 women are inside with one baby and still managed to let the baby get hurt.......
  
• L & S put their monster truck tickets on their wall. Well L tacked hers up on the wall and S put his on his ceiling where he can see it best from his top bunk :-) I think that was a fun, memorable night for the kids. I still harbor guilt leaving J at home.
• Tonight was the Girl Scout meeting for L. We had found her a troop close to home but still went to the open house to learn more about it. I am excited for her. She is ecstatic about the opportunity to be with other girls her age. She just ran right over and got in the mix with everyone. I love that quality about her. I am also looking forward to this activity that will be a time for just her and I. When the meeting was over, L had been outside with the Cadets playing. She spotted me and ran arms wide open to get to me. I love that girl so much, sometimes my heart feels like exploding.
• We got some much needed invoices paid yesterday. It is a relief to have some money come in finally. This economy is draining me. It has really put an emphasis on what is important and money isn't one of them. Having enough to pay the bills is nice, of course, but it's not what makes the world go around. I hope to look back at this time in our lives as a major turning point, financially speaking. I have learned so much about debt and the freedom it takes away from us. I want our kids to know what debt free living is like and how to achieve that goal.
  
• Had major coupon savings today - spent $31 and saved $126. I have made huge strides in our grocery budget using coupons. It has really saved our cabooses during this trying economical times. Our pantry, laundry room shelves and shelves in garage are full beyond belief thanks to coupon shopping. We'll not go hungry, be stinky or have yucky breath thanks to coupons : -)
  
• Got home from the grocery store this afternoon and S and L RAN out to me, like they hadn't seen me a month instead of 30 minutes. It was wonderful to see them so excited to see me. S was super pumped and ran right to my door. His eyes were sparkling with delight at the sight of his mama. He is something special : -) I feel like we are harder on him than we should be at times. He takes everything so sincerely and to heart. Oh how I love the hugs and kisses I get from him. They are enough to melt away the hardness that piles on my heart at times.
  
• This afternoon we got the camping stuff and started cleaning it up. We are going camping with our homeschool group in a few weeks. We have never taken the kids camping, let alone camped with a baby. I am excited to have something to look forward. L and S are totally stoked about the trip. We are going to camp out this weekend in the front yard as a trial run. We are even going to cook breakfast out on the stove Sunday morning. Should be quite the adventure for the Piper 5.
  
• Seeing the camping stuff brought back a ton of memories for me. Mostly seeing the blue hot cocoa mugs. I cried over and over seeing those mugs. Most of the camping stuff we cleaned up today was from my mother and ex-stepfather. They divorced 6 days before L was born. He is the only dad I really knew and once the divorce was final, our relationship was final too. He and my mother married when I was 6 and I never really knew my real father. We camped a ton while growing up and there was so many wonderful memories from that time. Seeing those mugs brought back so much. Mostly the feeling of what went wrong and how can I prevent that from happening in my own marriage. I know it takes 2 to succeed and 2 to fail. I just want so very badly to have my marriage stand the test of time. It's very important to me. My husband and my children are everything to me.
• S destroyed his corn tonight. Instead of devouring his food, he now says destroyed : -)
• J took 4 steps today, in a row. Not while I was home of course but while we were at Girl Scouts. I did see him take his first step though. He is such a delightful little soul - happy to just be with everyone and playing and getting into everything.

Friends

We have had so many friends over this week. I love our house exploding with kids and laughter. It's good for these walls to soak up the good mojo : -)

Jokester

S actually tried to pull a joke over on me today. L had a sheet, from the dryer, so she was snug in this warm cloth and running around the house, being crazy. I guess her and her brother (that would be S) decided to have a little fun with Mama. She curled up in a ball in the living room while S came and got me (I was on the computer - shocking, I know!). He said he couldn't find L. I listed all the usual places to find her ending with "Maybe she's outside with Daddy". He said in the coy little voice "Maybe she is, I don't know" all the while knowing she was in the living room, hiding under this warm, snuggly sheet. I found her, tickled both of them and pronounced S a silly jokester for pulling a prank on me. He was laughing so hard. I couldn't believe how convincing he was that he didn't know where she was and all the while, they were playing a trick on me. What does the future hold for these 2 planning kids of mine???

Hodge-Podge

• J took a step today. He was cruising along the couch and let go for a second and took a step. Of course, he refused to do it again but I did see it the one time.
• S is soooo funny with his adorable eye rolling and too cute grin, I could just eat him up. Today's funny statement: "I want pasta tonight" to which I replied "Okay, I'll make spaghetti" and he responded with "NO - chicken and something with pasta but no spaghetti". Well okay Bobby Flay - didn't realize his culinary tastes have grown too refined for spaghetti!
• We rented a Tiger Woods golf game for Wii and have had tons of fun playing it. L beat our butts tonight. She is headed for the Masters!
• Daddy Piper's work has fallen off again to nothing. This causes an abundant amount of stress on our home - financial being a main one obviously. The other stress is it makes the week feel like a week long weekend so our schedule is completely out of whack. Let's hope for more work next week and we can all get back into our daily routines.
• Homeschooling is back in swing again. L has really taken to the books like a champ. S is continuing with his reading lessons and loving every second of it. It is so fun to teach them new things and learn new things with them on a regular basis.
• I think I found a Daisy group for L. The lady was serious a talkative soul when I chatted with her tonight. I think during our 14 minute conversation I said 10 words, maybe. I offered my help and she was honest when she said she didn't want a co-leader but rather someone who could take direction and not interfere with the plans she has. I can do that. I don't need to be in charge of this group or add more to plate. I am happy to assist and have no added responsibility right now!
• L started jazz this week. It was sad at first because she was super nervous about not knowing anyone and I could feel her pain. She seemed to get over it quickly though and came out with a glowing smile and excited about next week.
  

Life just marches on. Just when I think things will be quiet and fine for a spell, something happens and it shakes our world up again. Such fun here in Piper Paradise!

Baby J Update

Baby J is now standing on his own for longer and longer. He will walk with you holding onto only one of my fingers now. He is also sleeping much better. He even slept for 8 straight hours the other night - the first since he was a newborn. He still won't say Mama, even though he did say it one time a few days ago. He looked right at me and said "Ma-Ma" and hasn't said it again- STINKER! He does say dadada and bababa and nanana over and over and over. He also likes to yell when everyone is talking, to contribute to the conversation in his own way : -)

Happy 17th Birthday to my "First Born"

I think of my 17 year old niece as my first born. I was 13 when she was born and couldn't have been happier to have her added to my so tight relationship with my sister. I was there in the room when she was born, stayed the night in the hospital with my sister the night she was born and held her during her first sunrise 10 hours after she arrived here on Earth. She is the most wonderful girl and seeing her turn into a woman is such a gift from God.

We had plans to have lunch today with her on her 17th birthday. She just started her senior year of school 2 days ago and also started a CNA class. She decided missing this CNA class was too much and canceled lunch. I was bummed but totally understood. With Daddy Piper not having work, we decided to drive up and surprise her for dinner instead. SUCH FUN!! I was able to have dinner with her, see my sister for some coupon bonding and have my babies hang out with their auntie for a spell. My sis and I were talking a few days ago about doing this kind of stuff, this important life stuff. We get so busy and think we don't have the time for the hour and half drive and that's just not true. We both agreed we needed to make the time for things like this. We had an incredible time together. L got jumped on by Gizmo - dumb dog. And she got attacked by ants. If there are ants nearby, they always manage to find her. I got some pics from the fun event!!







I was also able to meet her boyfriend for the first time. This is her first real boyfriend. He has liked her and wanted to date her for 2 years but her parents haven't allowed it until now. That girl is in LOVE I tell ya! But they both seem to have their heads on straight or at least I hope!

Monster Trucks

We took the older 2 kids to the monster trucks last night. We left the baby home with my mother. I felt so much guilt over leaving him behind but knew the noise would be too loud for him and it was almost too loud for L and S, even with their ear protection. We all had sooo much fun! It started after the kids usually go to bed so they were pumped about being up so late. We left our house about 5:30 and headed over to the wild blue yonder, about a million miles from home. We got parked and we went in search of the will call window to get our tickets. It was our first time in this particular stadium and we ended up walking all the way around the silly thing to find the will call window, in a million degree heat no less. We got the tickets and headed inside. After a quick potty break, we set out to find our seats. We stopped and picked out souvenirs first. We were getting the kids each a shirt but L passed on the shirt in favor of a pennant. S got a Grave Digger shirt - L got a Blue Thunder pennant. We got our hot dogs and drinks and found our seats. The kids were immediately awestruck by the size of the stadium. The whole experience was so much more thrilling through their eyes.

Waaaayyyy past bedtime!!

Side story before I forget. I was rushing trying to get ready to leave, my mother showed up early and I have the sort of mother that needs to be entertained and I wasn't ready so it was adding stress to the situation because I can't possibly entertain her while I get ready. L was in the bathroom with me, trying to get ready too. She needed her hair done and her body glitter on (yes I know - who wears body glitter to the monster trucks? My diva daughter does, that's who!). It turned out to be the best 10 minutes getting ready EVER! L was so into it. She wanted to blowdry her own hair, put a bit of powder on, the whole works then she picked out jewelry for both us. It was a blast, just her and I, getting ready for a night on the town!!

L's first attempt at blowdrying her own hair. I had the heat setting on cool so
it wouldn't burn her poor face.

More blowdrying!

L & I ready for the monster trucks while my baby looks on and wonders what's
going - where are these people going without me?!?

I need to finish up the details from this fun night but everyone is sleeping so I better get some sleep too - more tomorrow!